Congrats to all new acceptances, bleh re WL/denials, and congrats to @momtogkc on the choice. One of D19’s best friends is going to Tulane too.
Congrats on all the recent acceptances! It’s hard to keep up!
@RightCoaster Interesting about the NESCAC schools. Apparently those schools like my son a bit but not enough! Waitlisted at Williams, Amherst and Colby :(. Also waitlisted at Carleton (we’re on on a roll!). Didn’t care about Carleton or Colby as those were added at the end just to see, but was sort of hoping something miraculous would happen with Amherst.
Good news today though as S was accepted to Colgate as an Alumni Memorial Scholar. I’m so ready to have all the decisions.
I think my D19 might be getting close to a decision. Still waiting to hear from two schools this week (both Ivies which her stats/ECs/etc. put her perfectly in range for, but as we’ve learned, that means pretty much nothing), but right now leaning toward Scripps (and waitlisted at Pomona, which was her #1 choice). We’re in NYC so going all the way out to SoCal is slightly scary but I think it’s really the right place for her (she really wants to get away from the Northeast). Got a big merit award at Scripps, which is super nice. Already making plans to fly out for accepted students day. She really likes the idea of being at a small women’s college but also having the benefits of the larger, co-ed Claremont Consortium community (and since she’s going to be a STEM major, it looks like most of her major classes would be through Pomona and Harvey Mudd anyway).
Still on the table, however, is a full-tuition scholarship/Honors College at a large southern university with a spot on the women’s rowing team–top 20, Div. 1 team (and possibly some additional scholarship money from them). It’s tempting to her, and offers some exciting opportunities she wouldn’t get anywhere else, but SO far out of what she was expecting her college experience to be. That being said, she absolutely LOVED the campus when we visited, is already a big football fan of theirs (lots of my family went there!).
Wherever she does end up committing, I think that if she somehow manages to get off the waitlist at Pomona, she’ll take it. So I guess it’s time to write an update letter to them, and see if her college counselor will make a call for her. I feel like this process is drawing out as long as possible for her–which, for a tightly wound kid who suffers from anxiety, is NOT the best situation. 
Last “acceptance” has arrived and it was a bummer/confusing. Accepted into American U’s “Mentorship” program for Fall 19 and can join class for Spring 20. Very odd program. They can go and take classes at American (without enjoying all the entering class festivities), or go to England for Fall 19. Or just start in Spring 2020. Scratching my head in Ohio. Probably yield protection since she didn’t show a lot of demonstrated interest.
@liska21 I’m sure that we are on different threads because I can assure you that there is plenty of negativity and harsh comments about full pay students. I almost responded to one thread where there were many posts about these students being less worthy and and even more derogatory comments than I care to repeat. There is just no convincing some people that having a hook does not making a lesser student no matter what it is.
I usually just lurk here, but my D was pretty set on her decision and we paid the enrollment… then an unexpected acceptance to BU has thrown her into indecision.
She knows several students at BU and it’s close to home (vs. 6 hours away) but the financial aspect is what is a major deterrent for me. Plus, as much as I WANT her to be close to home, it’s a selfish motivation and I really think moving away will be good for her.
Trying to keep all opinions to myself and just lay out the facts is hard!
@homerdog Congrats to your son on Hamilton, Davidson and Carleton!!
@elena13 Congratulations to your son on Oxford/Emory and Colgate!!
@dfbdfb Congrats on the Mississippi State decision! I grew up in MS, family is still there. No Mississippi State alums in our family, though. We all went out of state. But it is a great school.
@GFORCE2818 Congrats to your son on Gettysburg and Juniata!!
@4MyKidz Congratulations to your son on his decision!
@jjulesjenks Congrats to your daughter on George Washington and American U!!
@MAandMEmom Congratulations to your son on Villanova and GWU!!
@coolweather Congratulations to your daughter on UCSD!
@gzza73 Congrats to your son on UCLA!
@crknwk2000 Congrats to your daughter on UCLA!
@momtogkc Congratulations to your daughter on her BC acceptance and Tulane decision!!
@EganAg Congrats to your daughter on Middlebury and your son on Connecticut College!!
@GrayStrong Congrats to your daughter on BU!
I think I’m finally caught up, but if I missed any acceptances, here’s a blanket
**Congratulations!! /b
@ifer67 Congratulations to your daughter on UCSD!
My D was also waitlisted at UMiami. I posted this in the UMiami thread, but…According to their 2018-19 CDS, UMiami waitlisted 10,405 applicants, 4,041 accepted a spot on the waitlist, and 30 were ultimately admitted. Puts that waitlist in perspective. Basically a soft rejection.
@liska21 The stats from the Equality of Opportunity project appear to be enrollment stats, not admissions stats. It’s really no surprise to me that the Ivies and other private’s are heavily populated with kids from wealthy families. Full tuition is expensive! Only wealthy families can afford to be full pay at those schools. There’s aid, but 50%+ are full pay, depending on the school of course. I saw so many posts on the Tulane and UMiami forums who got accepted but had to decline because they didn’t get enough merit or aid and couldn’t afford to go.
We are full pay, and TBH it has not helped as much as we had hoped. D19 was deferred, denied or waitlisted at every private school where she applied. These were not Ivies+, but privates with <= 30% acceptance rate. Her stats were good but not tippy-top (1450 SAT, 3.4 WGPA) and she has no other hooks. There’s no question that the schools knew we were full pay, since we didn’t file a FAFSA.
In general, I don’t think there’s any one thing that gets a student in or out. It’s easy to say, “If only…”, but the reality is there are far more applicants than there are spots. Schools have strategic priorities that have some influence, and much of it is subjective. It’s not all about the stats. But IMO schools don’t generally want to accept students that can’t succeed at that school. So, while they may take an occasional superstar athlete that is slightly below the average stats (maybe the outlier on Naviance), the vast majority of athletes are also academically qualified as well. Same for any other “hook”.
I know rejection is hard, but it’s really not personal. Never felt that anyone took my D’s spot. There are so many other schools out there. There’s a place for everyone…in fact, many places for everyone. I guess I’m lucky that D didn’t get her heart set on any one school. Rejection from a dream school is definitely harder to take.
Just some random thoughts after reading thru the last dozen or so pages.
@momzilla2D Stanford and Harvard have yield rates of 80-82%, so that skew to the upper 1% and 1-5% can’t be explained by families turning down admission for financial reasons. 17% are in the upper 1% at these schools compared to the elite publics (which are more like 3-5%). @Momof3kidz Oh I know exactly what you are talking about! I’ve read those threads. However…the Parents Thread right now is probably not the place to have these discussions, though I find it very interesting and my thoughts on opportunity, equity, meritocracy, access to college etc etc have gained so much by discussions with CC parents from many different parts of the country and different situations in life. At the moment, though, it feels tactless what with acceptances (yeah!!) and rejections (arg!!) coming in.
And on that topic…Congrats to all on the acceptances and decisions! I find myself checking the thread multiple times a day to see who has more news.
Wow so much news! Yay for the acceptances and decisions!
Our news is that the first local scholarship is in, $500 at the county level and moving on to district. I didn’t even know there was county level money, just thought it was district and state.
And I hemmed her prom gown last night all by myself and it looks great! The inside lining is a different story but no one will ever see that…
Oh no, didn’t mean to suggest that explained the upper 1% or 1-5%, just that full pay families are generally on the wealthier end at schools that have $70,000+ tuition. If I had to guess on the upper 1% and 1-5%, it’s a combination of these elite schools attracting a higher percentage of the super wealthy applicants (only the best for little don jr) and development admits (why, yes, we’d be happy to donate that new <science building,=“” theater,=“” arena,=“” rec=“” center,=“” residence=“” hall=“”>).
Congratulations for all of the great acceptances lately. My D was sad yesterday because the UCLA decisions came out. We moved from CA over 13 years ago, and my DH is a UCLA alum, but since we don’t live in CA there’s no way we are paying OOS for that. My D knew that, and I didn’t let her apply. Even if we lived in CA still, she wouldn’t have been accepted w/ her SATs anyway, so I don’t know why she was bummed. Would she have studied harder to get a higher SAT score if we were still in CA? I don’t know. She did apply to USC but she hasn’t received “the white box” so I’m 99% sure that means she didn’t get accepted. Which is great! I let her apply in some moment of weakness. We can’t afford full pay for USC, or even half pay. Ha!
Changing gears now that things are settled here on where the D is going to college. I am looking at dresses for graduation, for her to wear, for me to wear, etc. Also making my spreadsheets on what to buy/get/find in the house to send off with her to her dorm at ASU in five months. Ack!
Thx @3SailAway it’s the Geisel Library, named for Dr. Seuss himself. Now that you know that, does it look a little like a truffala tree? 
Congrats to your D @momtogkc . My D toured Tulane, but decided she needed to to be a little closer to a traditional “beachy” coast. Fantastic school and unique city. We had great fun exploring all the vegan food options NOLA had to offer.
Congrats @EganAg! Are those the last ones for your S & D? Good luck with decisions!
Thanks @momzilla2D sorry that both our Ds got waitlisted. Ours was after being deferred from EA, so we knew at that point there was little chance of merit, if accepted RD. Still a compliment to both of them that they weren’t flat-out rejected. UMiami’s loss!
@ifer67 yes. That’s it. We’ll visit Midd, Amherst with D19 and she’ll decide between those two or St Olaf (merit) and S19 will visit Macalester and decide between that and Conn (merit) or Earlham (merit). We are fortunate and thankful for the opportunities.
Congratulations @momtogkc! Our family is in New Orleans this weekend (also from FL) for Honors Orientation. Our D committed early on and is excited. Maybe we will get to meet up one day!
So since my son has made his decision, we’ve paid the deposits, & took care of banking/legal docs. We have now moved on to relaxing and enjoying the last couple of months of his senior year. What I’d like to know is what happened to a boy turning to the girl next to him and simply asking, “Would you like to go to prom with me?” When did prom proposals become so extra? I offered to create a prom breakout box, similar to an “escape the room” but son wasn’t feeling it. It would have been easy as I have all the supplies in my library. A friend suggested a box with a dozen donuts and when opened, the question is asked in icing on top of the donuts. Any thoughts? Me & son’s sisters are trying to help him because he is such an introvert!